National media is often quick to turn to them for crises like droughts or floods or bush fires.
But, in the everyday news cycle of city-headquartered outlets, bulletins and pages are dominated by issues from the city and its people. Regional stories shouldn’t always be doom and gloom and lamenting the challenges of bush living.
Regional Australia is brimming with innovation and inspiration – it’s our job to help share that with the world. And that starts with metro media.
Never ones to shy away from a challenge, we thought: ‘why can’t we get a positive news story from the bush in mainstream media?’
Here’s how we did it.
Say g’day to Howdy.
Howdy is a first-of-its-kind dating and social networking app for rural singles has officially launched – and it’s about to revolutionise dating in the bush.
Unlike other dating apps, female-founded Howdy is made for country people in mind, with an innovative unlimited, Australian-wide radius setting allowing farmers, ringers, agronomists, chopper pilots, bush mechanics, flying vets and anyone else who lives in rural or regional Australia to match with a special someone from all corners of the country, from Walkabout Creek to Woollahra, Bondi to Back O’ Bourke to Bunbury.
Founder Mia Ryan engaged RPR&Co. to launch the app. Key highlights included:
→ The Today Show live segment with Karl Stefanoic and Sarah Abo, featuring three case studies and Howdy’s impact on rural dating.
To get this over the line, we:
Wrote a punchy, upbeat and colourful pitch about how tough it was to find love in the bush when you maxxed-out your radius settings on other dating apps, and ensured we had three case studies from across Australia who were well-prepared and could speak to the challenges in a fun way in line with breakfast television.
→ The Australian: Feature with founder Mia Ryan and case studies on dating challenges in rural areas.
To get this over the line, we:
Had stats about disproportionate male-female gender ratios in regional communities (man drought!), and ensured we had an authoritative, independent voice who could speak to a more newsy line about social isolation and the need to connect to future-proof regional communities.
→ Sky News live cross with founder Mia Ryan discussing Howdy’s role in connecting country singles.
To get this over the line, we:
Ensured the pitch was reflective of broader regional challenges about social isolation.
→ Australian Community Media: front-page feature in local papers and syndication across 90+ publications.
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